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REVIEW: The Equalizer

The Equalizer is loosely based on the 1980’s TV show of the same name, where Robert McCall (played by Denzel Washington in the film and Edward Woodward in the TV series) tries to live an ordinary life but when he sees an injustice he finds himself acting with often violent results.

In the film McCall works at a home supplies deport in Boston, he’s reserved but friendly and helpful towards his colleagues but he is also an insomniac who ends up in an all-night café every night reading fine literature and talking to Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz). McCall finds that Teri has been mistreated and goes out of his way to help her, and that’s when things get violent.

The Equalizer is very slow to start which is both a good thing and a bad thing. How slow it is to start is very noticeable, making things seem dragged out and boring but at the same time, seeing McCall have a normal life helps build the tension and making the violent action and fight scenes more surprising and affective. So the pacing of the film is a bit of a double-edged sword really.

Denzel Washington is amazing in the role of a sort of vengeful angel – he deftly shows how McCall is feeling with the slightest expression. Washington has done the vengeful-man-bent-on-destruction thing before in Man on Fire and his intensity is very watchable. Maton Csokas is the bad guy standing in Washington’s way and he makes a worthy adversary.

The Equalizer also looks great and the fight scenes are well filmed and edited so you can see what’s happening and there isn’t too many jump-cuts and shaky-cam. The finale is set to some amazing music which fitted the action and the tension perfectly – the music in question is Vengeance by Zack Hemsey and it really stuck with me after seeing the film.

The Equalizer is a tense, good-looking film that has great fight and action sequences and a fantastic lead 4/5.